Abstract The ability to absorb and use effectively FDI flows by countries to enhance their national productive systems is directly related to the degree of functioning of an economy’s national innovation system. We develop a heuristic NSI-FDI framework that proposed three types of NSIs (well functioning/strong, relatively well functioning, and weak) in relation with three types of corresponding FDI outcomes (High-end, Medium or Average, and Low-end). We then selected both large and small developing economies -- China, India, South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Zambia with both different NSIs and FDI flows. The countries were differentiated with respect to core differences in the types of NSIs. Using descriptive data we analysed the nature of FDI flows and their impacts or outcomes in these countries and showed that the characteristics of the NSI in these countries largely shaped the flow and the impact of FDI on these economies.

The diploma thesis focuses on the analysis of innovations in golf enterprise illustrated on the case study GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB HODKOVIČKY, a.s. Concretely, I discuss the possibility of implementation of new informational system that would cover a wide range of processes and services, including outsourcing of already solved problems or development of own software. In the theoretical part I describe the conditions for making business, the factors of prosperity of a company and innovations in general, last but not least I pay attention to the utilize of managerial information systems and description of golf environment. The empirical part then analyzes the valuation of the reference company and its processes, describes the innovations in golf environment, compares outsourcing informational systems and proposes own innovation suitable for the company. The aim of the thesis is to create a background for strategic managerial decisions in the field of customer system, compare advantages and disadvantages of proposed changes and recommend the best solution to the owners for realization.

This thesis contributes to the understanding of the role of institutions as a factor for the development of Science Park projects. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted to find out the institutional factors given by Science Park Promotion Agency (SPA), supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Thailand in response to Regional Science Parks in Thailand. Research findings show that steady standard of practice, explicit governance, continued budget allocation and capacity building are regarded crucial. Yet, other empirical results suggest that some institutions should be adjusted in a holistic manner in order to accelerate the innovation process in the long run. Furthermore, the results illustrate a growing tendency of interplay between different roles of institutional spheres - academia, industries and public sectors. Overall, this thesis tends to benefit policy-makers involving in the Science Park development project, helping them perceive the implications of their on-going measures to Regional Science Park and related national innovation systems.

The purpose of study is to research the development of electric vehicle technology in the United States. This study describes the United States public policies towards electric vehicle technology and system of innovation approaches. The government roles with the help of national system of innovation have been also covered in this study. The point of departure was the study of available literature and U.S energy policy acts which illustrates that the break-through in electric vehicles still not only depended on better battery technology and infrastructure for charging stations but also on social, economic and political factors. The important actors involved in the process are both at local and international level are private firms, governmental departments, research and development (R&D) institutes, nongovernment organizations (NGO’s) and environmental organizations etc. The arguments which are put forward in the background of development of such technologies are to reduce dependence on foreign oil and to reduce emissions of harmful gasses.

This thesis explores Thailand's efforts to pursue greater competitiveness in global markets by enhancing the effectiveness of its National System of Innovation. The concept of national system of innovation (NSI) has been employed widely to study and describe the development of science, technology and innovation in a national context. NSI studies seek to explain systematic differences between national economies in their innovation performance in terms of the flow of knowledge among actors/players and the impacts of institutions and factors on their relationships or interactions. The concept was formally introduced into Thai policies in 2001 and it was adopted widely by the organisations directed to build up a strong national innovation system. However, the Thai innovation system has been identified by previous studies as a weak and fragmented system. This study investigates the current situation of the Thai NSI by exploring the relationships and the patterns of knowledge flows among actors in the Thai innovation system; heavily focusing on exploitation of public sector research. A comparative study was undertaken of innovations arising as a result of initiatives arising through the Thai NSI policy. Eighteen case studies were undertaken including 6 that were seen as successful and 12 failures. The study was carried out using in-depth interviews with relevant staff in both public and private sectors together with secondary analysis of science and technology policy implementation in Thailand. The interviews show that there are still many problems hindering the attempt to build up an effective relationship between the public and private sectors; many of them fail to construct R&D collaboration and to conduct technology transfer. The influential factors are analysed and identified from the cases. Those found repeatedly among successes, but largely absent in the failure cases include technological readiness, R&D capability, good management skills, and positive attitude towards R&D while some external factors are found specific to the individual case. Some of them can be contingent factors for particular features of the case resulting in diversity among the cases especially successful ones. The analysis of science and technology policy implementation is also integrated to explore the case studies in order to investigate the impact of those policies on the pattern of the Thai innovation system. Particularly, the policy that has been implemented after the introduction of the NSI concept which was intended to fix the linear model of innovation in Thailand. However, the analysis from this research demonstrates that there is a shortcoming in the adoption of the NSI policy in Thailand as it still follows the 'linear plus' model of innovation (Tait and Williams, 1999) revolving around promoting knowledge flows from research. The development of ST&I is embedded in the advanced science (most in the public sector) not for building up the competitive firms. The centre of development is not on firm capability development to create learning economies but on a science push model. To summarise from the empirical findings, the concept of NSI adopted in Thailand is used as a tool to briefly analyse the big picture of science and technology development at the national level and to identify the problems facing the country. However, this concept alone is not enough to stimulate a country's innovation process. The NSI concept has been understood in two broad ways: the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) mode and the Doing, Using and Interacting (DUI) mode. In Thailand the former has prevailed. Secondly, the concept itself is too broad and vague to be used as the main guideline for building up innovative capacity; it only tells what should be done not how to do it. The NSI helps Thailand to initiate change in its ST&I development process although greater attention should be given to the DUI mode. However, the process requires other frameworks to support and translate the NSI concept into the level of action plans. As a result this research suggests that the factors that determine the success of technology/knowledge transfer are not only from the policy level but also other factors from the bottom up level such as social factors determining the relationships among actors.

Knowledge creation processes and the innovation systems through which it is transferred for the benefit of society are the economic driver of industrial economies in the globalized era, yet developing countries seeking to move through the transition from developing to developed status are struggling . A variety of theories and a range of speculations have been offered as to why some nations are more innovative than others, however little of this literature examines the theoretical and practical applicability of innovation models based on industrial societies for developing nations. This thesis examines a selection of theoretical innovation system models, analyzes their roots and assesses their applicability to transition economies where various pieces of the system present structural differences relative to developed nations. This thesis uses Mexico as a case study.<p> In the fifteen years since the 1994-95 collapse of Mexicos financial sector and the resulting economic crisis, the Mexican economy has made impressive progress towards macro-economic consolidation and stability. The OECD (2004) observes that the inflation rate has fallen from around 50% during the economic collapse of 1995 to about 4% in 2006. GDP growth has averaged 3.2% in the period from 1994 to 2008 (compared to the OECD average of 2.7%). As a partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement, trade liberalization has allowed Mexico to consolidate its export base and to specialize in medium- and high-technology manufacturing. However, the industrial sector in Mexico still shows a slow pace in developing, adopting and investing in technology. The Mexican industrial sector is lead by multinational firms that have located in Mexico due to the cheap costs of labour, while most of the research and development performed by these firms takes place outside of Mexico. Mexicos policy for S&T seems to show a disconnect between the discourse and practice.<p> Indicators show that Mexico considerably lags in S&T development. S&T development has not contributed to facilitating the country's positioning as one of the top ten most competitive nations in the world. Rather, technology transfer outcomes in the country, relative to other transitional economies, manifest an increasing deceleration in Mexico's S&T competitiveness. This thesis contrasts the innovation system in which technology transfer processes navigate in Mexico to the leading literature on theoretical models of innovation. This process facilitates identifying crucial barriers and challenges of the Mexican system of innovation that need to be addressed in order to achieve a level of S&T development that would contribute to facilitating Mexico's transition to a developed economy.

Knowledge creation processes and the innovation systems through which it is transferred for the benefit of society are the economic driver of industrial economies in the globalized era, yet developing countries seeking to move through the transition from developing to developed status are struggling . A variety of theories and a range of speculations have been offered as to why some nations are more innovative than others, however little of this literature examines the theoretical and practical applicability of innovation models based on industrial societies for developing nations. This thesis examines a selection of theoretical innovation system models, analyzes their roots and assesses their applicability to transition economies where various pieces of the system present structural differences relative to developed nations. This thesis uses Mexico as a case study.<p> In the fifteen years since the 1994-95 collapse of Mexicos financial sector and the resulting economic crisis, the Mexican economy has made impressive progress towards macro-economic consolidation and stability. The OECD (2004) observes that the inflation rate has fallen from around 50% during the economic collapse of 1995 to about 4% in 2006. GDP growth has averaged 3.2% in the period from 1994 to 2008 (compared to the OECD average of 2.7%). As a partner in the North American Free Trade Agreement, trade liberalization has allowed Mexico to consolidate its export base and to specialize in medium- and high-technology manufacturing. However, the industrial sector in Mexico still shows a slow pace in developing, adopting and investing in technology. The Mexican industrial sector is lead by multinational firms that have located in Mexico due to the cheap costs of labour, while most of the research and development performed by these firms takes place outside of Mexico. Mexicos policy for S&T seems to show a disconnect between the discourse and practice.<p> Indicators show that Mexico considerably lags in S&T development. S&T development has not contributed to facilitating the country's positioning as one of the top ten most competitive nations in the world. Rather, technology transfer outcomes in the country, relative to other transitional economies, manifest an increasing deceleration in Mexico's S&T competitiveness. This thesis contrasts the innovation system in which technology transfer processes navigate in Mexico to the leading literature on theoretical models of innovation. This process facilitates identifying crucial barriers and challenges of the Mexican system of innovation that need to be addressed in order to achieve a level of S&T development that would contribute to facilitating Mexico's transition to a developed economy.

The fast growth of science parks around the world has inspired many researchers to investigate the function and performance of science parks (SPs). Interestingly, mixed findings are reported on science park performance in the literature: some researchers found that SPs have benefits for the firms located on site; whereas other researchers doubt the benefits that SPs are claimed to have. This thesis aims to explain these mixed findings and proposes a relational approach to study the general view of interorganisational knowledge flows. The main research question to be answered is: How can the mixed findings of previous research studies regarding innovative performances of science park firms be explained? A sample of 52 new technology-based firms (NTBFs) situated in Gauteng was interviewed by means of structured questionnaires. Despite the fact that this research did not empirically confirm the theoretical explanation of the mixed findings found in science park literature, some issues raised in the recommendation section of this thesis could account for the mixed findings, namely differences in the scanning processes of new entrant firms, the nature of networking activities, services provided by SP management teams, academic-industry links and configurations of knowledge flows. The findings and recommendations of this study may help policy makers to further improve the design and functioning of science parks in emerging economies. / Thesis (PhD(Technology Management))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / unrestricted

There exist some concern regarding the sustainability of the production of R&D output and R&D capacity in South Africa. Recent trends indicated evidence of disinvestments and decay of South Africa’s R&D capacity. Questions arise concerning the detrimental effects these trends could have on South Africa’s ability to generate R&D output. As problems are addressed insufficiently and the system is allowed to decay, the costs of rebuilding the system might increase even further. The main research of objective of this thesis is to develop a computer simulation program of R&D performance and the creation of R&D output in the NSI. This model will in turn produce a tool to be used for policy testing, what-if scenario testing or policy optimisation. The purpose of the model is to simulate R&D output generated in the South African system of innovation and to model and explain the effect the presence/lack of long-term investment in R&D and R&D resources could have on the system’s ability to produce R&D output. In developing this model and by using the corresponding simulation programme, decision-makers in government and industry are provided with a tool to analyse policy alternatives. The model will provide a better understanding of the interrelationships between different elements of the NSI, in particular those interacting as funders and performers of R&D. This model will also aid decision makers in enhancing the efficiency of addressing problem areas within the South African R&D system. The contribution made by this thesis to the body of knowledge is that the development of a system dynamic model will result in the establishment of a dynamic hypothesis of the development of new knowledge through R&D in an R&D performing sector. The dynamic hypothesis will in turn lead to a method for modelling the effect of R&D investment on the development of an R&D capacity, i.e. the system’s ability to absorbed knowledge and produce R&D output. The above is essentially a dynamic description of the process around creating and absorbing knowledge through R&D activities. / Thesis (PhD (Engineering Management))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Graduate School of Technology Management (GSTM) / PhD / Unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-05T18:36:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 22 / Nenhuma / O desenvolvimento de um país passa pela construção de estágios avançados de industrialização, de preferência assentados sob uma base nacional. Isso ocorreu com os países centrais. O desafio que está colocado é de como os países periféricos poderão alcançar esses estágios, considerando as carências que detém e as pressões dos países ricos que “chutam a escada” para impedir-lhes o avanço. O primeiro passo para iniciar essa trajetória é a estratégia do país que deverá tratar das políticas de desenvolvimento. Um dos aspectos fundamentais para alcançar o desenvolvimento é a tecnologia. Sem tecnologia não há perspectiva de desenvolvimento no sistema capitalista, porque, segundo Schumpeter (1982), o fluxo circular da economia sai da inércia com a entrada da inovação. A inovação, por sua vez, ocorre inserida num todo articulado que Freeman (2004) denominou de “Sistema Nacional de Inovação”. Esse sistema envolve as entidades governamentais, universidades, institutos de pesquisa e empresas, com o objetivo de obter i